Thursday, November 19, 2015

1 Kings 17

And he stretched himself out on the child three times, and cried out to the Lord and said, “O Lord my God, I pray, let this child’s soul come back to him.”  Then the Lord heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came back to him, and he revived. vv.21-22

Read chapter 17
There's resurrections in the Old Testament!  Most people think that the only resurrection in scripture is Jesus, but there are actually a handful of different resurrections some that are named like Lazarus (John 8), some as a company of people (Matthew 27:52), some that have already happened and some that are still to come (our hope 1 Cor. 15).  All the resurrections look a little different but it is only the power of God that can raise someone from the dead.  Here it seems like Elijah was doing some kind of ritual since he repeats three times stretching himself over the child.  This wasn't some ritual that Elijah was performing but more likely he was trying to pass on his own vitality as a prophet of God onto the boy to restore life.  When Lazarus is raised it happen just at the command of Jesus, when the company of people are raise in the gospels it's because Jesus just died on the cross.  We will rise when Christ returns in His kingdom (1 Thess. 4).  If this child was going to heaven once he died, why would Elijah raise him?  What is the point of the resurrection if we're already in heaven?  Study scripture to find the truth as to what happens when you die, maybe start by seeing if you can find one verse in scripture where it says you go to heaven when you die (if you find it I'll give you $1,000).

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